The
sub groups of the Han Chinese are based on linguistics, culture and region within mainland China. The terminology used in
Mandarin to describe the groups is: "minxi" (
Simplified Chinese: 民系, ethnic lineages) or "zuqun" (
Simplified Chinese: 族群, ethnic groups).
These two terms are used in
mainland China and
Taiwan, respectively, refers to subgroups of the
Han Chinese population, whose mother tongue are
Chinese languages and does not belong to one of
People's Republic of China's
56 official minority ethnic groups of China.
Han subgroups by dialect
Mandarin-speaking groups
- Total Native Han Speakers: 885,000,000
Mandarin is the largest of the Chinese languages. Even in regions where non-Mandarin speakers historically dominated, Mandarin is being brought in as a lingua franca. The Mandarin-speaking groups are the largest group in mainland China, but in the
diaspora the Min, Hakka and Cantonese dialects are more numerous.
Wu-speaking groups
- Total Native Han Speakers: 77,175,000
Wu-speaking Chinese, in particular, are concentrated in southern
Jiangsu, most of
Zhejiang,
Shanghai, and parts of southern
Anhui, northern
Fujian, and northeastern
Jiangxi. Scattered remnants of Wu-speaking Chinese are found in other parts of China, such as in
Guizhou,
Sichuan,
Chongqing and
Xinjiang, as a result after 1964. Most of them outside of Jiangnan...
Read More